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THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND UNREAL CONTENTMENT OF PURCHASERS

Some truly professional rules for the drafting of specifications: vain and pointless proof

We should be aware that the level of translatological ignorance, lack of knowledge of modern writing techniques and an underestimation of the realities of the multilingual services supply markets is generally (almost always!) breathtaking. The pretention of knowing how to go ahead with writing procedures is generally just as astonishing as it is fallacious. Moreover the worthiness of the producers of calls for tenders (Clients) cannot be called into question as the true professional specialists, at least those who are supposed to be as much, are tragically lacking when it comes to explaining their processes to produce multilingualism. In actual fact, it is the lack of professionalism on the part of the supply market that misleads Clients and future clients. Eurologos tries to distinguish itself from this mystifying attitude that consists in not saying anything to the Client out of fear of disturbing them: the fight against the everyday fare of the demand market (Clients) sometimes consists in stating the truth and disturbing the Client in our own interests. This is the case of a lot of tender producing clients who, without being aware of any concrete alternative – due to the fact that they are naturally ignorant – are beyond accusation: each has their own specialisation. They ask for test translations, writing tests, the CVs of translators-copywriters and other similar false “guarantees” …

Coverage for purchasers against possible failures?

These requests are vain, unnecessary or illegal and often satisfy the future Client’s purchaser more from a psychological than from a real point of view. As slavery was abolished more than two centuries ago, CVs are structurally useless: employees can resign or be fired at any time. Test translations or writing tests can very well be produced by translators or writers who will or can no longer be employed in future … Not to mention the fact that the mastery applied for a test is not necessarily employed subsequently… All these conditions provided for in specifications rather tend to have the aim of “covering” purchasers against highly probable future failure. So what should be done? Read attentively the related arguments above and, in general, the multilingual quality production principles outlined on the website and in our books published free online.

Is ISO certification a guarantee of quality?

What do you think of "certifications" specific to translation, that are currently being contemplated, or which have already been approved, for example, the DIN standard in Germany?